My Rival is a Butler
by Astell Epaz
Summary: Slight AU Who knows,that a popular basketball player secretly worked in a butler café.Worse, his rival just had to be the first person to find out.SenRu and various pairings. UPDATED!
1. Prologue: Crack

**Disclaimer: The characters belong to Inoue Takehiko, and the base idea belongs to Hiro Fujiwara (Maid-sama)**

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**Prologue: Crack**

"Okay! That's enough for today!" Akagi announced to his team as soon as the practice match had ended. Immediately the players panted for breath, while some wiped their sweat off. The training had been tougher than usual, they gave him that.

Then the players marched to the locker room to clean up while Akagi observed. He noted that several players were better with their stamina with his new training regiment as their breath were more controllable than usual, most notably the secondary players.

This amused him. He was one step closer to the goal he desired. He _would_ eliminate those words about Shohoku's bench no matter what! No more weak bench! No more-

Akagi's thought came to a halt as he saw Rukawa slipped out of the room silently like a spy. With the ace's everyday attitude, such act was not unusual. But this time it was different. Curiosity beat him into asking.

"Where are you going?"

"Home." He replied short before leaving the gym. Impolite, Akagi called it.

"What's with that brat and attitude?" Akagi complained.

Ayako, who was packing her belongings, came to hear his captain's complaint. Concerned, she approached him. "What is it, Akagi-sempai?"

"Rukawa," Akagi sighed. "His attitude and a new habit for sneaking out."

Ayako laughed at his words, causing Akagi's face to turn slight shades of red. "Rukawa has always been like that! No need to worry." She assured with a smile. Akagi opened his mouth to argue with her statement, but decided to shut it back.

Ayako giggled at her sempai's reaction. "Come on, sempai. Go clean up and let's go home." Ayako invited as she accompanied him to the destination. Akagi walked in silence, still unable to shrug the suspicions off.

'_I think he's hiding something big.'_ He finally decided the answer, regardless of Ayako's words.

Rukawa, while busy making his droll bubble, drove his bicycle inside a narrow lane. Its tires were rolling rapidly on the path as he made his way snoring to the destination. Then,

_CRASH! _

The bicycle hit the wall so hard that the driver flew straight to head-butt the wall. A man in violet tailed-tux came from the back door upon hearing the loud noise.

"You should stop comparing your strength with the wall, Kae-_kun_." The man mocked with a smirk on his face.

_Kiyota _"Do'aho." Rukawa struggled to stand up by himself with his twitching forehead since the other man didn't even bother offering a hand. He even heard Kiyota snickering at him with his monkey-like laugh. What a friend…

Kiyota's laugh came to an abrupt stop when the door he was leaning at was opened so hard that he flung into the wall across in the same way as Rukawa's.

"Do'aho." Rukawa gave him a nearly invincible smirk.

"You-!"

"Rukawa, Nobunaga, stop wandering around and get your ass back to work!" Kiyota was about to argue with him when the third person interrupted. He also wore tux like Kiyota but red in color.

Kiyota grumbled with a scowl on his face as he rubbed the aching lump on his forehead. "You don't need to hit me_ that_ hard, Koshi-san!"

"DON'T CALL ME KOSHI-SAN WHEN WE'RE NOT WORKING!" He shouted so loud that Kiyota had to cover both ears.

"Fine, Koshino-san! Sheesh…"

Rukawa sighed at the sight before leaving the area, followed by a furious Koshino and a grumbling Kiyota.

They entered to what seemed like a changing room with several lockers inside. Rukawa leaned his bike beside the door before proceeding to his locker while Kiyota went to the locker across him to check the lump of his head.

The time passed silently as Koshino watched Rukawa undressed his sweaty shirt and Kiyota combing his hair so that it covered the lump. It was the first time when the two of them could be in the same room peacefully, beside the working place of course.

Koshino nearly jumped when Kiyota slammed the locker like he was to break it.

"Okay, I'm ready!" Shouted Kiyota.

Koshino watched him storming out prideful when he noticed something missing. He frowned his brows and quickly ran toward Kiyota and jerked him by his collar.

"Ack!" Kiyota yelped automatically. "What _is_ wrong with you?"

Koshino's temper went to the level maximum as soom Kiyota finished talking.

"Tie your hair! Wear your mask! Do you want the whole people to know you work here as a butler?" Koshino shouted furiously, even going as far as giving him a lump in the head.

He had always been like that. The unofficial employee discipline manager, people called him secretly. Sometime Kiyota found himself wondering why the owner hadn't promoted him yet.

Nonetheless, Kiyota did as the 'manager' told him to. After he had worn his violet mask and tied his hair elegantly, he posed in front of the mirror-

-and got another lump on his head.

"Stop wasting your time here and get out!" He yelled as he dragged the wincing boy out. All the sudden he stopped his tracks at the door.

"Don't spend too much time or Maki-san will be angry at you, Rukawa." Koshino advised with slight anger in his tone. Then they exited the changing room, leaving him alone.

"Two Do'ahos." He sighed as he changed into his suit, an icy blue tux. He put his blue rose on his pocket and his belt on. Next he combed his hair before putting a resonance ice blue mask. The mask only covered most parts of his eyes, so he was still capable of walking.

A brief though crossed his mind as he looked at his self. He remembered what Koshino had said.

'_Do you want the whole people to know you work here as a butler?'_

Rukawa closed his eyes, trying to find the most perfect answer. Is it shame? Is it failure? No, those weren't right. Is it guilt?

'_What am I thinking?'_ He shook his head in attempt to discard those thoughts. He closed the locker's door and made his way to the exit. Just an inch away from the handle, he stopped.

"What will happen, huh?" He grabbed the knob and twisted it, opening the door to the kitchen.

"Who cares about that."

Then the door was slammed shut.

"Thank you for coming, Master." The blue tux butler bowed as three women made their way out with hearts on their eyes. He sighed as the last costumers made their way out when he heard someone clasping.

"Nice work, Kae-kun." A white tux butler congratulated. "Glad that you are more accustomed in serving people now."

"Thank you, sempai." He replied.

"Sei-san," Kiyota called while cleaning the wooden tables. "He nearly destroyed the wall every time he came, he's always late, and he never smiles to the costumer. How come you call that good?" He scowled, directing all his anger to his hand and mopped the table harshly.

The white butler grabbed a mop from the side and helped him with other tables. "Well, when Ruka-kun first joined, immediately he earned the nick 'ice butler'. It's been a month now, and seems that the ice may change into a puddle." He chuckled, earning a glare from Rukawa.

"But-!"

"It's true." Koshino joined the conversation. He was leaning to the wall nearby Kiyota while watching Rukawa took his mask off with a sigh. "Not much, but at least he's starting to greet people, even with_ that_ way." Rukawa's glare turned to him at once as everyone laughed along.

"Do'aho." Rukawa said, but his voice was muted with the amazingly loud laugh courtesy of Kiyota. Slowly became annoyed, he put his hand on the knob and opened the door to exit the room.

_BRAKK!_

The door seemed to have a life of its own for it added more force than necessary to Rukawa's side that made him lost his balance. To make matters worse, someone just happened to bump onto him, causing him to fell onto the hard floor. Two lumps in one day.

"Kyaa! The ice butler!" The person who bumped onto him happened to be a little fan girl who was squealing with hearts on both eyes. _Great…_

"Sendoh-niisan, I found him! I found him!" The girl squealed again. Rukawa was trying to get the girl off when her words stopped him abruptly.

'_Don't tell me-!'_

"Really? Let me see the ice butl-?" Words were stuck on the girl's brother as he saw who she was sitting at. The guest and Rukawa were in a staring contest as the little girl's squealing filled the atmosphere. None could let their stare off each other as both were stunned with shock.

Fear was visible in Rukawa's stare. At that moment, Koshino's words flew inside his head.

'_Do you want the whole people to know you work here as a butler?'_

Right on the same day as the question, he got the perfectly made answer for himself by none other than his rival from Ryonan,

Akira Sendoh.

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**A/N: When I wrote this, I was actually laughing at Rukawa worked as a butler. Oh, how random that idea came *snickers*. If you review, I'll continue writing this, so for all readers (anonymous or not) please tell me what you think!**


	2. Chapter 1: Shattered

**A/N: I remembered saying how I'll try my best to revive SD fandom, yet I am slowly signing myself off…Oh, and thank you very much for Star7, Kaiser Washington, Youkokurei and Yhenne Caz for the alert. I'll try my best to finish this story. Ideas for this and Wish are welcomed!**

**Disclaimer: I don't own it…*sobs***

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**Chapter 1: Shattered**

The air was tense. Everyone was tense, left alone the innocent girl. Words were stuck in their throat as the most unexpected event occurred.

It took a crowd's chattering to wake all of them up. Realizing their conditions, Koshino hurried to the door and slammed it hard in front of the audiences' faces. Next he grabbed the aqua mask that the ice butler had dropped and placed it back on Rukawa's shocked face while dragging him away by the back of his collar from the girl and Sendoh.

"Ah-! The ice butler-" The girl tried to reach her idol back, but she could only grasp the air. And worse, Koshino kicked them out with words, the polite way.

"Master and young miss, in case you are blind, the café has clearly announced it's closing time_ right_ in front of the door. And if you have understood it, _please_ do it right _now_!" He emphasized the last five words as he gritted his teeth to prevent him from raising his voice.

"Now excuse us!" *_SLAM!_* with that, Koshino and Rukawa were out of sight.

Disappointed, the girl went to her brother and grabbed his shirt to drag him out of the cafe. "Let's go home, niisan."

But her brother didn't budge. No matter how hard she pulled, he still stood there, staring at the remaining butlers.

"Nii-san!"

"Excuse me," her brother suddenly said. At first, she was happy that her brother finally replied. But her smile soon turned into a frown when she realized that he was talking to the butlers.

She didn't know what he had said, but the next thing the kind white butler took her to a similar room but it had only one chair and one table which were decorated beautifully. He sat her on the chair and gave her a bear dressed in aqua suit and went to make a hot chocolate for her. Those were more than enough to divert her attention, that's for sure.

Meanwhile outside, Sendoh and Kiyota were still having an awkward moment of staring at each other. Sweat trailed down Kiyota's face and fell onto the floor; his eyes were wide with anxiousness behind his violet mask. The clock ticked every second, but it felt like it was frozen.

"Why is Rukawa here?" Sendoh broke the silence.

Kiyota shut his eyes tightly as if avoiding a ball that flew toward his face. Like things weren't messed up already, now he had to face Mr. tell-me-everything. Of all people, why did it have to be him?

_And it happened thanks to Rukawa! If he hadn't opened his mask freely like that, Sendoh wouldn't notice him, and the café would end the day like usual. Now look at what he had done!_

Sendoh sweat dropped at the sight of Kiyota unconciously stomping his feet on the floor.

"?"

Kiyota jumped at Sendoh's call. In a swift motion, he fixed his dress and stood perfectly. "Y-yes?" He stuttered nervously, sweats tricking over his body.

"Why is Rukawa here?" He repeated his question.

"Er, well…" Kiyota forced his brain to create an excuse while fighting the urge to fidget. "Well, your _friend_ just happened to work here, that's all." He forced a smile.

The red butler's excuse lighted an absurd idea in Sendoh's mind. From the way the butler acted, spoke, and dressed, a face suddenly appeared in his mind. If his suspicions were proven to be correct, then…"Mr. Butler,"

"Y-yes?"

"I think it's just me, but since it is closing time already, could you open your mask for me?"

Kiyota wished that a hole would just swallow him and spit him anywhere but near _him_. Or better, a meteorite would strike Sendoh to the next form of life forever.

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING, FROZEN IN PLACE LIKE THAT WHEN SENDOH SAW YOU. YOU SHOULD PUT YOU MASK BACK ON AND CREATE AN EXCUSE AT LEAST!" Koshino shouted, loud enough to make Rukawa's ears went deaf but soft enough to escape the hearing of those outside.

Koshino had taken Rukawa to the closet room, a small room full of brooms and cleaning equipment. Rukawa sighed when Koshino let his grasp off, but he only did so to use his hands to grasp Rukawa by his collar and brought him face to face.

"Do'aho…" Was all Rukawa's reply.

"What?" Koshino tightened his grip on Rukawa. "This is YOUR entire fault and all you can say is do'aho?"

Rukawa met Koshino's angry gaze with his cold ones, unaffected by his temper tantrum. "Quit the job if you don't wan your identity to be found, do'aho!" He retorted.

Koshino even became more furious by his statement. "You're the one whose life is on the line, not me!"

"So?" Rukawa was as calm as ever.

*BRAKK!*

The closet door flung open, startling both Sendoh and Kiyota who was reaching for his mask slowly. Kiyota sighed in relief for a second before he saw Rukawa being forcefully shoved outside by the furious Koshino.

"Then deal your problem yourself!" This time, Koshino dragged Kiyota to where the white butler was, intending to leave everything on Rukawa's hands. Once again, he slammed the door shut so hard that this time it startled the residents inside.

Rukawa stood there with his mask, staring at Sendoh in silence. He didn't know what to do, what to say. He was never good at handling social problems to begin with.

The clock on the wall ticked every second, yet everything seemed to go forever. It was 10pm already, yet everyone heed no attention to time beside the sleeping little girl. The problem seemed to have no tail.

"You're working here as a butler, Rukawa?" Sendoh asked.

Rukawa didn't reply.

"Well, if you're going to stay silent all time then I'll make my leave." Sendoh didn't even bother making a second attempt as he turned his back to Rukawa and headed toward the door where his sister was. Well, he didn't need to.

"Keep it a secret." Rukawa's plead stopped Sendoh from doing what he had planned to do. He turned his head,

"Again?"

"Keep it a secret." Rukawa repeated. He knew that Sendoh was just playing with him, but he's in no place to dominate right now.

"Really?" Sendoh smirked. "What's the catch?"

Rukawa frowned. He couldn't believe that Sendoh was _that_ type of a guy. This wasn't a shoujo novel's scene where the main guy forced the girl to be his maid now, was it? Then again, maybe his little sister had influenced him. No good…

Rukawa didn't respond.

"Well then, I'll just have to-" Sendoh's sentence was interrupted when he felt someone grabbed his hand, _hard_. He tried to pulled back, but it only made Rukawa's grip stronger.

"Work here." Rukawa proposed all of the sudden, earning jaw dropping moments from Sendoh and the eavesdroppers.

"Howaam…" Koshino yawned. Immediately he squinted and held out a hand to block the light that fell on his eyes. He looked around, and realization struck him in the gut.

_I have slept in the café!_ Koshino scanned across the room, and the information he gathered relieved him. Apparently, the white butler also had slept in the VIP room, but no sign of the little girl nor Sendoh.

He crawled toward the white butler and shook him quite harshly. "Jin, wake up!" He called. After several shakes, Jin finally opened his eyes.

"Ah-Koshino-san…"

"Do you know what happened last night? All I remember is that Rukawa forcing Sendoh to keep silent."

"Eh?" Jin's mind was still having a hard time following Koshino's. Koshino noticed this and let him had some time to settle down, even with his inner turmoil. After Jin had settled down, he spoke up,

"As far as I can recall, their argument lasted forever that I had no choice but to sleep. By then, you had long gone to the dream land." Jin glared, causing Koshino to chuckle. Jin's glare was far from scary.

*_rustle rustle_* their ears snapped unanimously when they heard a sound coming from outside. Both immediately leaned themselves on the door, trying to identify the sound. Koshino was the first to recognize, his shocked expression proved that.

"The café has opened!" He warned.

"What?" Jin gasped in disbelief. He swiftly grabbed his mask from his pocket and put it on. After Koshino prepared himself he stood up and grabbed the knob.

"Then we better hurry and-" Jin couldn't finish his sentence when he found the knob stuck. He tried to use force on his second attempt, but still no use. Koshino pushed Jin away and tried it himself, but the door was still locked.

He shook the handle up and down angrily upon his failed attempt, but it did nothing to the door. Furious, he repeatedly slammed his fist to the door, making loud thud noises as if trying to break the door into pieces.

Jin thought of stopping him, but he very well knew how his stubbornness resembled a diamond, so he gave up before he even tried. Suddenly,

_'BWHAM!'_

A loud thud was heard when Koshino swung his right hand back upon the rebound stopped his intention. Then came a sound from the outside,

"Stop banging! There are costumers here!" It belonged to Kiyota.

"Nobu-kun!" Jin suddenly replied, much to Koshino's surprise. "The door was locked. Could you open it from the outside?"

"Oh, that." Jin promised that he heard Kiyota snickering. "Rukawa said that Sendoh was to be locked inside until he promised not to tell anyone. And you guys were to keep an eye for him." _And for me too… _

"Eh?" Koshino and Jin stared at each other. Jin nodded and he scanned across the room looking for the sleeping spiky head. Jin shook his head, signing Koshino to ask more.

"Where is he?"

"Inside the cupboard." Jin walked toward the wooden large cupboard and opened it. His jaw nearly dropped to the ground when he found Sendoh blindfolded, gagged, and tied. Koshino really had his jaw touched the ground at the sight.

"What did you do to him?" Koshino shouted so loud that Jin had to cover his ears.

Kiyota scratched his head. " Don't shout so loud!" He warned. "Didn't I tell you that there are costumers around?"

It was a good thing that the café had a loud music that went for as long the café was open to cover half of their voices. But then again, seeing a butler standing in front of the door talking to the door was a rare sight. He had to pretend trying to open the locked door to as a cover.

"Oi…"

"Oh, sorry. Rukawa drugged him with the cold medicine and just for precautions…" He didn't have the courage to say them out loud. "As for his sister, tell him that she has been delivered to the school safely."

Koshino and Jin were speechless at the result of the argument yesterday.

"Well, have fun inside!" Kiyota snickered.

If the door was invincible, he would have seen Koshino's eyes burning angrily onto him. Even if it wasn't, he immediately earned a prove that Koshino was indeed glaring angrily at him.

"LOCK US OUT RIGHT NOW, YOU…"

Rukawa raised the edge of his lip slightly in amusement as he heard Koshino's curses while he delivered the drink to the confused woman costumer who had requested it. His plan to make Sendoh's mouth shut had worked just fine, and he could work in peace,

Well, for now…

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**A/N: Er.. I hope it won't be too much, but would you readers mind pointing out any mistakes that I have here? I hope I can improve my writing more by your guide. Oh, and do you think I should write an occasionally one shot as an attempt to revive SD's fandoms once more?**


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